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It was basically a starter pack that was tailored to get the Larkinson Clan up to speed with drone-carrying mechs.

The breadth of knowledge was impressive. The Lehrer Foundation was willing to provide useful information related to almost every aspect of combat drones, from configuring their AIs to designing compact weapon systems that were powerful enough to be effective against mechs.

There were many pros and cons to drone-carrying mechs.

Normally, Ves didn\'t think they were worth all of the downsides, but the Lehrer Foundation invested so much time, manpower and resources into them that they had elevated this unusual mech type to an impressive height!

Vice Director Goetha had been prepared to address every possible doubt.

"If you question the reason for why drone mechs should exist, then I advise you to look at our fleet\'s performance during the last battle. Our combat drones have proved to be particularly effective at cutting down the alien small craft. The enemy starfighters are especially vulnerable to flanking attacks, so our combat drones tried to encircle them whenever possible. It is much easier to surround a hostile force with a larger amount of lighter units as opposed to a smaller amount of heavier units."

Ves could see that this could be useful in many different cases, but combat drones were not a panacea against every possible type of enemy.

"These combat drones of yours are certainly effective and all, but their firepower is too light to pose a threat against alien warships. I would rather stick to traditional mechs as their larger caliber weapons at least won\'t bounce away from the thick hull plating of enemy vessels."

"That is what other mech types are for." The vice director retorted. "We have no illusions about the universality of our drone mech solutions. Be that as it may, we have developed specialized combat drones that are explicitly designed for sieging or swarming large constructs such as warships and space stations."

No matter what, Ves wanted it all, but the Lehrer Foundation was a lot more reluctant to share their accumulation of drones armed with heavy weapons.

Ves only managed to gain a few concessions when he addressed the demands of the Lehrer Foundation.

"You guys are getting a lot more augmented ace-mech grade weapons than my other trading partners. The nature of your Infinite Gear makes it difficult to upgrade just one weapon. It is better to upgrade a wider range of weapons so that it will retain its penetration advantage when it changes in configuration. Considering how much work I am willing to do for your foundation, I think I deserve a lot of extras."

In the end, Ves promised to apply his blessed weapon methods to four individual weapons of the Infinite Gear.

"A mech sword, a mech lance, a mech rifle and a mech cannon, huh?" Ves thoughtfully said. "That is certainly a decent range, but your greatest modular mech should have more weapon loadouts. Don\'t you want me to augment them as well? It is not as if you have to pay actual money or phasewater when sharing your foundation\'s research with my clan."

Vice Director Goetha responded with a strained smile. "I am not allowed to make any further concessions. As much as I am in favor of securing additional commitments from you, my superiors have imposed strict rules on how much proprietary research I can exchange with a third party. The scope of our current transaction is still within my discretion. If we trade anything further, I will have to send this matter up the hierarchy, which means that it can take months if not years before we can agree to a definite trade agreement."

"Annoying, but understandable. Your headquarters will certainly want to have a say in this matter." Ves remarked.

"That is true, but I cannot wait for my superiors to make up their minds. They will demand hard proof in the form of empirical data generated by systematic experiments. They won\'t take us at our word."

"And you do?"

"I have witnessed the might of your blessed weapons first-hand. You have saved my life and that of every other member of our fleet. That is all of the proof I need." Goetha said.

"So if I want to approach your foundation for additional research, I just have to bring additional proof, is that correct?"

"It is not so simple, Patriarch Larkinson. Research drops in value the more it becomes available. It is not true that it is costless for us to share our research. If we give away too much of our work, we will only be fueling the rise of our competitors."

Both sides were ultimately happy with their deal. They didn\'t actually make any painful concessions as neither of them exchanged any scarce resources such as phasewater.

The Lehrer Foundation could make as many copies of its drone research as it wanted.

Ves on the other hand only gave up a bit of time and effort to bless four ace mech-grade weapons.

In truth, Ves believed that he was definitely getting the upper hand in all of these trade deals.

Phasewater and drone research all sounded nice, but they were not as pivotal to his work and ambitions as getting in touch with many different high-end mech weapons.

​

Being able to touch and study the impressive weapons of the Royal Jeem and the Infinite Gear would expose him to a whole new world of high-end mech design!

The best Master Mech Designers associated with the Boojay Family and the Lehrer Foundation had invested their best design solutions to these products. The spear of the Royal Jeem and the eclectic collection of weapons of the Infinite Gear all represented the apex of second-class mech design!

In fact, the tech and material composition of those weapons were so high that they were more at home among first-class products.

Ves deeply wanted to tear apart those weapons to figure out all of their design nuances.

He also wanted to examine their spiritual properties. Each ace mech weapon had mutated from their initial states after undergoing long-term willpower baptism from different ace pilots.

Ves had already taken a close glance at the Thunderer Mark II. If he could make observations on the weapons of several other ace mechs, he could conduct focused research on the phenomenon of willpower baptism and possibly figure out a way to replicate the effects through his own methods.

This was potentially the key to reverse engineering Lucky\'s gems!

It was because of his eagerness to obtain four powerful weapons of the Infinite Gear that he was willing to settle with a starter pack on drone mech systems.

The knowledge that the Lehrer Foundation was willing to pass on was thorough enough for the Design Department to develop their own brand of combat drones, but not extensive enough to match the performance of the current generation products of the research institution.

While the Lehrers assumed that it was impossible for the Larkinson Clan to develop competitive drone-oriented mechs shortly after receiving the starter pack, Ves had different ideas in mind.

There was so much potential for Ves to empower combat drones in different ways by resorting to his unique design solutions. The only downside was that he was working on so many different projects that he might not have time to play with drone mechs.

After Vice Director Stanley Goetha left with a satisfied expression, General Herman Foraine finally came back.

"We have discussed your terms and conditions. The Adelaide Mercenary Company is willing to work with them. We would like you to upgrade the daggers of the Jedda Sandivar along with the main weapons of four of expert mechs."

Ves smiled at the prospect of receiving additional business. "I would be happy to oblige, but it will cost your mercenary company a lot of phasewater despite your friend discount. Are you sure you want to place a big order?"

"We can get phasewater from other sources." General Foraine said. "We might not be able to acquire your upgrade again if we miss this opportunity. Besides, it is better to invest resources into greater combat power than to allow our wealth to remain unused. The last battle has given us all a powerful reminder that alien battleships and hostile phase whales care nothing about our reputation and our balance sheets."

"Well said. I think you have made the right decision. While you might not be able to earn an enormous windfall of phasewater like this again in the future, I believe your new and blessed weapons will save your lives one day."

The two quickly concluded their negotiations. They essentially took the Larkinson Clan\'s trade deal with the Boojay Family as a model and only changed a couple of parameters.

In exchange for upgrading a number of the Adelaide Mercenary Company\'s high-end weapons, the Larkinson Clan received a rounded figure of 50 kilograms of phasewater.

The two shook hands.

"Why the long face, general?" Ves asked with a smile.

"You cannot imagine how much it hurts to give up on all of the ways we could have spent that phasewater on. We could have applied a more comprehensive upgrade to the transphasic systems of the Jedda Sandivar and all of our expert mechs.  I was also looking forward to equipping our capital ships with superdrives."

"Eh, as I\'ve said, you can always scrounge more phasewater elsewhere. This is especially the case now that your mechs stand to gain a lot of extra combat power."

Once General Foraine returned to his group so that he could share the good news, an executive of the Santana Group walked up to Ves.

"Patriarch Larkinson, we would like to make a deal with you." The man\'s slick voice began.

Ves tried to cheer himself up again. "Let\'s talk."

Unlike his previous trading partners, the Santana Group was much less willing to spend a fortune on upgrading their high-ranking mechs.

"You have already augmented our Thunderer Mark II." The businessman stated. "We do not see why you must make a heavy sacrifice to strengthen the foundation that you have created beforehand."

Ves already anticipated such a response. "That isn\'t a freebie. What I\'ve done to the Thunderer Mark II is a highly unstable rush job."

"Saint Jelmer Osenring does not share your opinion. He can tell that the changes that you have applied to his ace mech are fully stable."

"My blessed weapon system relies on more than just a living mech. Let me remind you that the Phase King plays a critical role in empowering the phasewater utilization of your ace mech. Without his support, your Thunderer Mark II will have to fall back on human science, which is much further behind. If you want to encourage the Phase King to help your fleet in battle in the battles where you need his power the most, I advise you to allow me to do a proper job with your ace mech."

In the end, the Larkinson Clan and the Santana Group agreed to a limited trade deal.

Ves only promised to touch up the Thunderer Mark II under the supervision of Saint Jelmer Osenring and nothing else.

In exchange, the stingy Santana Group only promised to pay 28 kilograms of phasewater.

Well, some phasewater was better than nothing.

He already got the feeling that the Santana Group was unwilling to sacrifice any additional phasewater. The financial group already allocated much of the bounty from Operation Lighthouse for other purposes.

Now that he had secured a tentative trade deal with the Santana Group, only one pioneering group remained.

"Oh boy." Ves muttered under his breath.

Patriarch Kobal Gemini and Matriarch Sena Gemini stepped forth while holding their hands in a clear display of affection.

"Larkinson."

"Gemini."

"Let us discuss the future."